09TBILISI1101, GEORGIA: FIRST STEPS TOWARDS RE-OPENING THE

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 001101
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2019
TAGS: PRELPGOVPBTSRSGG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: FIRST STEPS TOWARDS RE-OPENING THE
KAZBEGI BORDER CROSSING
Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN F. TEFFT FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) AND (d).
¶1. (C) Summary and Comment. The Government of Georgia
announced May 26 that negotiations with Russia were underway
to open the border at Kazbegi-Zemo Larsi, the only land
border point of entry with Russia in the undisputed territory
of Georgia. Russia closed the border in June 2006 in order
to renovate their facilities, ut recently announced that
this construction was complete. Reportedly, the Government
of Armenia sent a formal letter to Russia requesting that
Russia open the border, and Russia, in turn, notified the
Georgians through the Swiss Embassy that they were ready to
negotiate on the issue. The opening of the border would not
only facilitate movement between Georgia and Russia, but
would also benefit the Armenian economy, which was negatively
affected by the August 2008 conflict. While the opening of
the border would not by itself be a catalyst for the
establishment of normal relations between Georgia and Russia,
it would at least represent a modest confidence-building
measure, something currently in short supply. End summary
and comment.
ARMENIANS SEEK BORDER OPENING
¶2. (C) Armenia reportedly initiated discussions on the
border, sending a formal letter of request to the Russians
asking that the Kazbegi-Zemo Larsi border be reopened.
According to Kakha Chitaia, Deputy Chief of European Affairs
at the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Russia then verbally
conveyed to Georgia on May 20 through the Swiss Embassy,
following up in writing on May 25, that it had completed
construction of the facility at the Zemo Larsi checkpoint on
the Russian border across from the Georgian town of Kazbegi
and was ready to start negotiations on reopening the border.
The Georgians responded, also via the Swiss Embassy, with a
verbal agreement to meet with the Russians to discuss this.
¶3. (C) Chitaia said the Russians were quite surprised by
the response, prompting them to ask several seemingly minor
questions about the process. These questions suggested to
the Georgian Government that the Russians did not expect the
initial positive reply, and that they are not in fact sincere
about opening the border. One of the issues raised by the
Russians was whether there would be a Swiss flag present at
the negotiations site. According to Chitaia, Russia wants to
convey the impression that relations are as normal as
possible, and therefore does not want the Swiss flag present.
Chitaia dryly noted to poloffs that there are already two
Russian flagged embassies on Georgian territory, and they do
not need another one. Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol
Vashadze said publicly that reopening the checkpoint is in
the national interests of Georgia, as it would allow the
local population to travel unhindered to and from Russia and
Georgia. Although the Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesperson
noted at a press conference at the end of May that
negotiations were already underway, according to other MFA
officials, they are still awaiting an official response from
Russia on starting negotiations.
¶4. (C) The Kazbegi-Zemo Larsi border point, which has been
closed since June 2006, is the only land traffic point of
entry between Russia and Georgia that is not in the disputed
territories of Abkhazia or South Ossetia. The opening of the
border would benefit not only the local populations, who
often have relatives on the other side, but the economy of
Qoften have relatives on the other side, but the economy of
Armenia as well. Since the closing of the border in 2006,
Armenia has been forced to send its exports on a long,
circuitous and expensive route through Georgia across the
Black Sea to eventually reach Russia.
GEORGIAN CONSTRUCTION EFFORTS
¶5. (C) EmbOffs met with representatives from the United
States Army Corps of Engineers, the Georgian Revenue Service
and the Georgian Patrol Police regarding the construction of
the facility at Kazbegi on the Georgian side of the border.
The Kazbegi facility is funded by the United States through
the Georgian Border Security and Law Enforcement Program and
was built under the supervision of the Corps of Engineers.
The facility was due to be completed in May 2009, but damage
to the main road to Kazbegi caused by a rockslide in the
spring of 2009 has affected the delivery of some key
materials and equipment for the construction project. The
completion date has now been pushed to late July 2009.
Efforts are currently underway within the Georgian government
to repair the damaged road as quickly as possible. It is not
yet clear, however, whether the political negotiations will
be complete by July 2009. At a follow-up meeting in Kazbegi,
EmbOffs encountered an MFA official, who said that he was
looking at the border facilities in anticipation of
TBILISI 00001101 002 OF 002
negotiatio
ns with the Russians, which were being planned for
both sides of the border in the near future.
TEFFT

The information recorded on this site has been extracted from http://Wikileaks.org (Georgia) database..

We wish to express our gratitude to Julian Assange and his team for making this data available as it is an important public record.

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